York County Gets Community News On The Radio

WXGM-FM 99.1 has become the official radio station for York County to assist the county with broadcasts of information during emergencies, according to the county's public information office.

In addition to regularly broadcasting news of county programs and services, WXGM has agreed to broadcast York County-specific information at a pre-arranged time during emergencies.

When York declares a local emergency for a disaster, citizens should first tune in to WXGM's regular news broadcast at the beginning of every hour to learn when York County-specific information will be broadcast.

County staff will contact WXGM's newsroom to establish the exact time, and how often, York information will be aired. This information also will be posted on York's cable station, WYCG, Channel 46, and the county's Web site (www.york^]county.gov), power supplies permitting.

People are urged as part of their emergency preparedness to keep a battery-operated radio and extra batteries and tune to FM 99.1 for the latest York emergency information.

"We are grateful to have this agreement with WXGM, because it will be very important to our citizens during a time of crisis, such as Hurricane Isabel," said Stephen P. Kopczynski, fire chief and director of the York County Department of Fire and Life Safety.

"This is especially critical during disasters that involve long-term power outages, when people are relying on battery-powered radios to get crucial information. It will help immensely, knowing they can tune in at a certain time and hear York County information, without running down their batteries waiting for news to come on."

"We recognize that operating a radio station takes on a whole new level of responsibility during a crisis," said Thomas W. Robinson, president and general manager of Gloucester-based WXGM. "It's a responsibility we take very seriously, and we do our best to get out information to Gloucester, Mathews, Middlesex, James City and York counties and Williamsburg during an emergency.

"This agreement with York County will actually help us as well, because our news broadcasters will know they will get timely information regularly that we can then pass along to our York County listeners at a consistent time."

One of the challenges Hampton Roads citizens faced during Hurricane Isabel was obtaining information specific to their communities, Kopczynski said.

"We were getting information to all area TV and radio outlets, and they were broadcasting it. But if one of our citizens tuned in during a time when York County didn't happen to be mentioned among all the other city and county information, then they were frustrated.

"This new relationship with WXGM we believe will go a long way toward improving communications with our citizens." *